T-Mobile proposes cell tower in Forks park

Company would pay rent to the township for use of the spot.

A wireless telecommunications company has approached Forks Township about the possibility of locating a cell tower in its municipal park.

T-Mobile initially approached the township in late November, said Tim Weis, township code officer and building inspector.

"They want to put a tower somewhere in the park," Weis said of T-Mobile. "They were hoping to replace one of the [park] light towers with a cell tower and reattach the lights to it."

The township needs more information, and Weis said T-Mobile representatives are set to speak with the Finance and Administration Committee at a meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Weis said Forks would get rental payments if supervisors decided to allow a tower.

He said township ordinances require other companies to be able to rent space on the tower and locate their equipment there. The township could potentially get a portion of those rent payments along with rent for the tower itself.

Christopher Milotich, an independent consultant for T-Mobile USA Inc., said the company was looking for a tower site to address frequency weaknesses in the area.

He said it's early in the process and there have been no promises or indications that Forks is ready to lease land for the tower. The application for a tower, if submitted, would be from Omnipoint Communications Inc., a subsidiary of T-Mobile USA, Milotich said.

T-Mobile approached Palmer Township officials last year about the possibility of renting space on a communications tower at a Palmer fire station on Freemansburg Avenue.

Supervisors there in July agreed with the concept of the company using the tower, but Milotich said Friday that site still was being evaluated and didn't know if it would move forward.